HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam's Health Ministry has confirmed that bird flu virus killed a four-year-old child in the country's north, the country's first human case in nearly five months, state-run radio said on Thursday.

The H5N1 virus was found in the samples taken from the child who died in a Hanoi hospital from high fever and serious pneumonia, the Voice of Vietnam radio quoted a ministry statement as saying.

It did not give the gender, but said the child had eaten chicken which died of unknown cause before falling sick.